Video: Now That’s What I Call Rushmore!

Kentucker Audley is an actor, filmmaker and programmer. He stars in Amy Seimetz’s Sun Don’t Shine, Ti West’s The Sacrament, and Dustin Guy Defa’s Bad Fever. He has directed four feature films, including Open Five, which was called one of the Top 25 films of 2010 by The New Yorker, and Open Five 2. He also runs NoBudge.com, which screens new indie films.

Over the festive break, Talkhouse Film is revisiting some of its most read (or listened to) pieces of the year, including this one. Happy holidays! – N.D.

The 1998 movie Rushmore is a good flick as is, but it could have attracted a much bigger audience using the pop hits of the day for its soundtrack instead of some random old songs. With this in mind, I thought I would go ahead and demonstrate. You see, barely anyone has ever heard of songs by Unit 4 + 2 or the Faces. Have you ever heard of a band called the Creation? Me neither. But you’ve heard of Smash Mouth so that’s gonna be better to hear on the soundtrack without a doubt. This is a great rule to go by for young filmmakers when making musical decisions about their movie. Make sure everyone knows the songs you put in by listening to the top radio stations. Some of the best songs of the 1990’s were expertly catalogued in a series of invaluable mix CDs called Now That’s What I Call Music! Luckily, they are still making them today (I just picked up #63 at Best Buy) so that takes out a lot of the guess work for you. Just use any of those songs because they are guaranteed to be the hottest tracks of the day. Look no further than how much hotter these tunes make Wes Anderson’s Rushmore.

Kentucker Audley is an actor, filmmaker and programmer. He stars in Amy Seimetz’s Sun Don’t Shine, Ti West’s The Sacrament, and Dustin Guy Defa’s Bad Fever. He has directed four feature films, including Open Five, which was called one of the Top 25 films of 2010 by The New Yorker, and Open Five 2. He also runs NoBudge.com, which screens new indie films.